A phone call from Pope Francis changed the life of a 35 year-old woman who wrote to him out of desperation after finding out that she was pregnant by a married man - but she never expected the reply she received!
After four years of decline, the U.S. birthrate appears to have leveled off, according to a new government report.
Woman
Dipped in the instincts of heaven,
Robed in the garments of earth,
Maiden and Mother and Queen,
Wearing each crown at thy birth:
Threefold thy gift to the world,
Pluck’d from God’s ripening sky,
Tending the altar of life,
Kindred to angels on high.
- Thomas O’Hagan
For Reflection:
“Tending the altar of life…” In addition to bringing Jesus into the world, how else does Sacred Scripture show Mary as “mother?” I will do likewise in three ways today as a special birthday present to her.
Mary, my Mother,
On this your birthday, bring me to the fullness
Of life through your Son, Jesus Christ,
My Lord.
Amen.
“Mount Calvary is the academy of love.”-St. Francis de Sales
For Reflection:
Contemplating the scene of the crucifixion, what three persons do I see enrolled in this “academy of love” besides Jesus and how is their love expressed? Today, in what ways can I follow their example and in what way(s) am I willing to enroll in the “academy?”
Experts are sounding the alarm about the Obama Administration's agenda to create a "cradle to career" government education system, beginning with what they see as a very problematic venture into universal child care.
New research has found a link between women who have a history of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and higher risks of stillbirth and premature birth.
Bishop Thomas Paprocki of the Diocese of Springfield, Illinois says today's Catholics must "adjust" to living in an environment of persecution similar to that suffered by Christians in the early Church and under communist rule.
